degus & guinea pigs

Question
Hi. I have one fairly old male degu and 2 one year old female guinea pigs and was wondering if it's okay to house them together? The cage is big and has 3 and a half levels in it and there's a tunnel allowing them access to a large outside run, so space isn't a problem, just if they would get on enough to live together? The guinea pigs already share a cage and the degu cage is near it so they have already smelt each other. They use the same bedding and eat the same food (guinea pig muesli with added vitamin c and fresh vegetables like carrot, brocolli and baby corn) already. We know the degu shouldn't be kept on his own but unfortunately he's the last survivor of a clan of 21, and hoped the guinea pigs would be a solution without needing to get more degus. If it is okay to house them together, do you have any tips to make it easier for them? Thanks for your help.

Answer
Dear Fiona,
thank you for your question.
You cannot keep them together, they have a completely different body language and would not be real company for each other. In the worst case, they would fight because they don't understand each other. They both need company of their own species. If you don't want to get more degus, I recommend finding a good home for him, try degu/rodent message boards, most have an adoption forum.
The guinea pig food is also not a suitable diet for the degu, they should be fed mainly high quality hay, twigs and leaves, dried herbs/leavy greens and a very small amount of seeds. Pellets can be an alternative to hay, but only very high quality pellets and even then hay is the better food.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer